I have made a ringtone in iTunes on my Mac but when I try to sync it to my iPhone 4s I get a warning that doing this will erase all music, tones etc. from the phone. I had to build a new library last week so it's different from the original that the music came from.

Is it possible to import the ringtone by any other method? I have emailed it to myself but don't know how to get it into the ringtones.

chscag

05-29-2014 04:05 PM

Go to your iTunes preferences and select "manually manage music.......". Then make sure you only select "Tones" from the side menu when you have your 4s connected. Grab the new ringtone and drop it into the "Tones" on your 4s. That will not remove any of your music or other ringtones that you have on the phone and will add the new ringtone. That's how I add new ringtones to my 5c.

Of course before doing anything to your iPhone always back it up first to your computer and also to iCloud. If you accidentally mess up, you can always restore it. By the way, I'm on iOS 7.1.1 but it should be the same even for iOS 6.

Gren

05-29-2014 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chscag
(Post 1585308)

Go to your iTunes preferences and select "manually manage music.......". Then make sure you only select "Tones" from the side menu when you have your 4s connected. Grab the new ringtone and drop it into the "Tones" on your 4s. That will not remove any of your music or other ringtones that you have on the phone and will add the new ringtone. That's how I add new ringtones to my 5c.

Of course before doing anything to your iPhone always back it up first to your computer and also to iCloud. If you accidentally mess up, you can always restore it. By the way, I'm on iOS 7.1.1 but it should be the same even for iOS 6.

There's no option in iTunes preferences to manually manage music etc. and when I check the box in the phone's options I get the "The iPhone “My iPhone” is synced with another iTunes library on “My iMac”. Do you want to erase this iPhone and sync with this iTunes library?" warning. Clearly it's the fact that the library has changed that's causing the problem. I may have to bite the bullet and erase everything and re-sync the new library.

I've tried dragging the tone to the phone but it doesn't work. Thanks.

chscag

05-29-2014 04:43 PM

Yeah, if you're already synced to another iTunes library you'll get that message. Just make sure you backup your phone first to both your current computer and to iCloud before you do anything else. Otherwise you'll lose everything when you sync to the new library.

Gren

05-29-2014 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chscag
(Post 1585325)

Yeah, if you're already synced to another iTunes library you'll get that message. Just make sure you backup your phone first to both your current computer and to iCloud before you do anything else. Otherwise you'll lose everything when you sync to the new library.

So if I sync the ringtone and everything is erased can I restore the backup and put it all back and still keep the ringtone in the phone or does an iCloud backup automatically restore the library?

chscag

05-29-2014 05:10 PM

Once you're synced to the new library, you can restore the backup without disturbing what's already there. And yes, the new ringtone should remain.

I don't really like the way ringtones or photos get synced to my iPhone but I haven't found another way to do it. There are several good Apps in the Mac App store which will create a ringtone for you and do the syncing to your iPhone automatically but I'm sure all they do is use iTunes.

You mentioned in an earlier reply that you couldn't find "Manually manage music and videos". It should be a check off option under "Options" when you plug in your iPhone and open iTunes. Click on your phone in the side menu and then select "Summary" from the top menu.

Gren

05-29-2014 05:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chscag
(Post 1585338)

Once you're synced to the new library, you can restore the backup without disturbing what's already there. And yes, the new ringtone should remain.

I don't really like the way ringtones or photos get synced to my iPhone but I haven't found another way to do it. There are several good Apps in the Mac App store which will create a ringtone for you and do the syncing to your iPhone automatically but I'm sure all they do is use iTunes.

You mentioned in an earlier reply that you couldn't find "Manually manage music and videos". It should be a check off option under "Options" when you plug in your iPhone and open iTunes. Click on your phone in the side menu and then select "Summary" from the top menu.

Thanks, I'll give it a go tomorrow. I did find the Manual option on the main iPhone page.

Gren

05-30-2014 01:37 PM

I have managed to import the ringtone but had to re-sync all the music. Now only a fraction of the tracks on the phone show up on the Music page in iTunes and some of those are greyed out. I have backed up and restored the phone to no avail, any ideas? Thanks.

Gren

05-30-2014 02:25 PM

Sync a ringtone to iPhone without losing library

I needed to rebuild my music library and sync the new library to my iPhone, over 4500 songs. Now only about 1000 show on the phone's window in iTunes, I have backed up and restored the phone with no result. Any ideas please?

chscag

05-30-2014 03:31 PM

I believe because you were synced to another iTunes library is why that happened. Can you go back to the App Store and re-download all your purchases? (You won't have to pay again. Just click on purchases.) You then should be able to get everything back in the one library where it can be synced again to your iPhone.

Gren

05-30-2014 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chscag
(Post 1585491)

I believe because you were synced to another iTunes library is why that happened. Can you go back to the App Store and re-download all your purchases? (You won't have to pay again. Just click on purchases.) You then should be able to get everything back in the one library where it can be synced again to your iPhone.

I'd only it were that simple, I have been ripping CDs and collecting mp3s since they were invented. Very few of them were purchased and downloaded and they're all in my new iTunes library on the Mac so why not on the phone?

I think iTunes is massively over-complicated and needs simplifying or there's a need for a basic music manager.